Ranchero build

[Ford Blue blood]

Got back from yet one more road trip last Thursday.  Wife's 50th class reunion.  Seams like I've been doing nothing but driving around the country this year!  Not going anywhere the month of November thank goodness!  Back on the Ranchero.  Four days with my lovely long board.....:<)

Got the doors and tail gate blocked, coat of primer, guide coat, 120 dry on the long board, coat of primer, guide coat, 220 on the long board, coat of primer, guide coat and 400 on the long board.  They are now ready for the final 600 block and paint.  Cleaned and sanded the jambs with 400 and shot color.  Was going to take a picture while out in the sun but mean ol mr. weather dictated they get moved indoors to cure. 

While getting the doors ready to hang imagine my surprise when the door weather strip came up about a foot short!  Did a quick check of the part # and the order form.  All was correct.  They are a Dennis Carpenter item.  Bought them from Concours, called and talked with Robert.  Great guy, helped, had me measure the length (160"), checked the length of a set they had (174") and looked up the invoice (2016) and said a new set would go out UPS today along with a return shipping label for the incorrect seals.  My guess is they are for a 4 dr sdn and just packaged wrong at Carpenters.

[KYBlueOval]

Looking great Bill. I'm envious..........hope some day,  mine looks as good as yours.
John

[Jeff Norwell]

Agreed Bill.. outstanding...... love the color.

[RICH MUISE]

yep yep yep! Looking great. lol, I've been procrastinating a year or two putting my door seals back on.....hope your shorties was just a fluke. I'd better dig them out and have a look.

[Ford Blue blood]

Decided to put the seals on with the doors off.  Much easier to get the front edge right.  Will leave the little area where the stainless screw and the lock clamp are hidden under it loose until they are installed.

[Ford Blue blood]

Got the new seals today, layed them out on the doors and they are the correct parts! :<)  Got the tail gate panel painted, the top piece, and the very top of the gate so I can put it together tomorrow before the storms set in.  Pics to follow.

[Ford Blue blood]

Got the seals installed on the doors, went well and they fit as expected!  Assembled the tail gate.  That went well also.

[Ford Blue blood]

Hung the doors today.  Had to build a "bracket" to hold the doors in place while I lined up the guild holes I drilled.  It would take two guys holding them to get it all lined up without scuffing the paint.  Just pulled the pad out of the floor jack, a 3/4" deep well 1/2" drive fit in the hole perfectly. 

Have a strap pulling the doors shut to get the new seals "adjusted" before putting the door latch in.  Saves wear and tear on the latch having them set early on.

[RICH MUISE]

I cussed at my door seals for a year until I discovered it wasn't the seals that were making shutting difficult, it was the windlace and thick-in-places door panel. I still haven't put my door seals back on after the repaint, and have figured out the windlace keeps the wind out.........duh....aptly named!

[Ford Blue blood]

Alrighty then, the "new" lower front fender patch panels are going in.  Have both fenders cut, trimmed, waiting on "paint weather" to get all sealed up.  Fit is really good, only a slight bit of trimming required.  The only ? thing is the over lap runs into the fender edge and the rear edge needs to be butt welded because of the inner brace.  Only little minor little irritants compared to their earlier patches.

The 4" is a reference point to ensure proper placement of the patch.  It was marked from the top hole in the fender to inner fender flange.  The rear edge of the patch is a no brainer as it pulls up tight to the inner brace.

[Ford Blue blood]

Forgot to mention....the picture of the right fender with the patch in place....notice it is labeled "Left".....they both had the labels reversed from EMS......sure am glad I was able to figure it out....:<)

[rmk57]

I wonder how they got the doors to close so nice when they rolled all shiny and new off the assembly line. I guess the rubber door seals aren't quite the same dimensions as originals?

[Ford Blue blood]

Been slow, life and all that.....Back at it again.....Got the frenched headlights figured out.  Was not real fond of the examples I saw at various places so did a little "6 pack engineering".  Figured that I could sink the entire assembly and have a basically stock headlight set up with all the adjustment and such retained.

Got a plan and it worked.  Made the little brackets, eight of them identical with respect to the depth they would sink the cut out mount for the bucket.  Spotted them in, did a trial fit of the cut out flange, everything centered up as I had hoped.  Got everything welded in and assembled the headlight.  Like it, fits as it should and it looks OK.

[Ford Blue blood]

And the final fit.....

[KYBlueOval]

Looks Great Bill!